Once every three years the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) holds an assembly of leading aviation authorities and global regulators. This year’s assembly, running between September 24 and October 4, focuses heavily on airlines’ CO2 emissions. Commercial flying is responsible for 2.5% of all carbon emissions, and with passenger numbers estimated to double to 8.2 billion by 2037, experts believe that emissions will rise if no positive action is taken.
At the 2016 ICAO meeting, it fostered the first global industrial climate initiative with a medium-term scheme to aid airlines avoid adding to their net emissions from 2020. The Carbon Offsetting and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA) requires most airlines to either limit emissions or offset them by buying credits from environmental projects. The industry has indicated that around US$40 billion in climate financing will be generated between 2020 and 2035. The aviation industry is targeting a halving of net emissions by 2050 when compared to 2005 levels. However, there is no similar long-term climate target for aviation set by countries in any international agreement, including the 2016 Paris accord.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has expressed high expectations for the outcomes of the 40th ICAO Assembly.
“Three years ago, ICAO member states achieved an historic agreement to implement a Carbon Offset and Reduction Scheme for International Aviation (CORSIA). The whole aviation industry welcomed this significant commitment as part of the overall approach to meaningfully mitigate the industry’s climate change impact. Today, CORSIA is a reality with airlines tracking their emissions. Unfortunately, there is a real risk that CORSIA will be undermined by governments piling on additional carbon pricing instruments. They are branded ’green taxes‘ but we have yet to see any funds allocated to actually reducing carbon. CORSIA was agreed as the single global economic measure to achieve carbon-neutral growth by generating $40 billion in climate funding and offsetting around 2.5 billion tonnes of CO2 between 2021 and 2035. Governments need to focus on making that commitment a success,” said IATA’s Director General and CEO Alexandre de Juniac.
IATA, in cooperation with Airports Council International (ACI), the Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) and the International Coordinating Council of Aerospace Industries Associations (ICCAIA), coordinated by the Air Transport Action Group (ATAG) submitted a working paper that, among other things, calls on governments to:
- Reaffirm the importance of CORSIA at the ICAO Assembly
- Participate in CORSIA from the voluntary period before it becomes mandatory in 2027
- Reaffirm that CORSIA is “the market-based measure applying to CO2 emissions from international aviation,” and
- Stick to the principle that aviation’s international emissions should be accounted for only once, with no duplication.